Gray Lines
by Eizoku
Summary: A tale of friendship, love, and death over a multitude of years. Told from the eyes of Kei. Possibly KeixSho...but I'm waiting to see how it turns out. I'm letting them write themselves.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: You're on a _fan_fiction site. Do the math. 

Notes: I also posted this in my livejournal, but I figured I might as well post it here too.

Started July 25, 2005

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**Gray Lines**

Chapter 1

With every step he took, his worn shoes sank ankle deep into the crunching snow. He could not remember when the last time was that he had bought new shoes. It must have been several years at least. Footwear was not on the top of his priorities, but now he was beginning to wish he had cared earlier; his toes were losing feeling, and his socks were soaked with melting snow.

A mere three days had passed since Luka had sent his soul to the sun, and Kei had already forgotten that there was still a need to stay warm even when one was undead. He had foolishly left Luka's old haunt that evening without a coat or scarf, and if he did not get somewhere warm soon, his blood would freeze. What would happen then, Kei had not the slightest idea, but he was not about to experiment now. He had not even had a chance to feed yet.

Pausing at a crosswalk, he glanced around at the mortals rushing from building to building, trying to spend as little time out in the freezing night air. It was times like this when Kei felt that he was completely alone in the world. Everyone else moved so quickly, working to accomplish desired goals before it was too late. Every mortal was the same. They all had the same goal: to get as much done before they grew old and died. It was the same, though none of them realized it. That was all mortal life was, really. Working until your body gave up and then it was sent to another world…or simply to a grave in the ground, or into a pot full of ashes to be kept or scattered by the family. Sometimes Kei imagined that he could almost see the faint lines that pulled the mortals along, getting tangled and intricately entwined as paths crossed and connected. All of these lines led to the same destination: death.

Like a spider treading on a web full of prey, Kei moved through the world with no gray line leading him toward death; he had crossed into death long ago. Only through the blood of these passing mortals did he sustain life in himself.

He despised it…yet he loved it at the same time.

When Luka was with him, he had not minded nearly as much. The older man had a way of making it seem like nothing more than an evening meal, as if it was not humans they were feeding on. Now that he was gone, however….

For the past three nights, Kei had never been so aware as he drained the life from his victims. The first had been a young man, probably in his early twenties, whom had fought and struggled with almost enough strength to dislodge Kei; the second, a middle-aged woman with enough drugs in her system to give Kei hallucinations for the rest of the night—he had barely made it back into hiding before dawn; and the third had been a man whom had tried to mug him. Kei had simply leaned forward and sank his teeth into the man's throat when he was shoved hard against an alley wall.

Now he held his own arms tight around his chest as he trudged through the snowy sidewalks, trying to keep himself warm. He longed for the summer season, when the mortals had hot, rushing blood that was there for the taking, not obscured by four different layers of clothing that he had to pull aside in order to get to it….

The blood lust was coming over him, and if he let it go much longer, he would lose all control of his actions. Kei quickly ducked into a cigarette smoke-filled bar—the first one that he came to along that sidewalk. His eyes briefly scanned the mortals in the room before striding over to the bar counter.

"Could I just have a glass of water, please?" he caught the attention of the bartender by tapping his fingernails sharply on the wood.

"Well you're a good boy, aren't you?" a woman's voice spoke teasingly from just behind him, and he glanced over his shoulder at her as she sat down next to him and ordered a martini.

"Not necessarily," Kei smiled at her. If he could get her to willingly leave the bar with him, his meal for the night was set. In the meantime, though, he figured he should be friendly. It was a game Luka had always been particularly good at.

Within a few minutes of chatting with the woman, he had already become quite bored, though he hid it well. He would not lose a fresh catch simply because she only cared to boast about the expensive gifts she had gotten for her recent twentieth birthday from some friend of her father's….

Kei lost the thread of conversation, and was staring at the glittering reflections of in the liquor bottles on the shelves behind the counter when he heard the woman laugh, "Aa! I'm boring you, aren't I?"

He blinked and looked at her, sliding an easy smile onto his lips. "No, of course not. But I was just thinking…how would you like to get out of here? I know of a lovely place where we could enjoy ourselves away from all this…" he waved a hand dismissively in the direction of the rest of the bar.

The woman—Kei realized that he wasn't even sure if he had caught her name, but perhaps it was better that way—raised her eyebrows suggestively and then grinned.

"I'm up to that," she replied, setting some money on the counter for her drink and then standing and pulling her fur coat tighter around her slim body.

"I hope you don't mind walking a bit in the cold," Kei spoke as they stepped out of the bar.

It had begun to snow.

"Well, as long as it isn't a long way away…."

"No, it's not very far at all. Don't worry."

The woman wrapped a soft scarlet scarf around her neck and glanced at Kei after a few minutes of silence. "Have you no coat?"

Kei laughed lightly, rubbing his hands together. His blood was quickly growing cold. He needed to get this over with.

"I left it in my hotel room, and didn't realize it until I was on the street, when I had no intention of going all the way back to retrieve it. It's just around this next corner," he added as they passed underneath a streetlight.

"You haven't told me where it is we are going," the woman accused playfully, flirtatiously.

Kei didn't answer, but instead led her around the corner—and seized her arm, shoving her around and into the small space between two buildings. As the woman opened her mouth to scream, he tore into her throat, silencing her and drinking her hot pulsing blood.

Kei pulled away just before she died, and for a moment he just stood there, one hand still clutching the woman's limp wrist. He could feel his entire body heating up, almost as if in passion. He dropped the woman's hand and used her scarf to wipe the blood from his face. He stepped back.

As he looked down at the dead woman's crumpled form that was already beginning to collect the falling snowflakes, Kei felt something nag at the back of his mind. He bit his lip and jumped up onto the rooftop of the building behind him, and then he walked slowly across the top to the other side where he leapt down onto the sidewalk.

_Find another 'friend'._

Luka's voice echoed in his mind, and Kei shook his head violently, as if that would extricate the memories. He did not _want_ a new 'friend', whatever Luka might have advised him to do, but he was growing quite lonely. The problem was, he felt absolutely no connection to the mortals around him.

Seven years later, Kei had still yet to find a new 'friend', and he was losing hope. But then, in the news, he had noticed a significant amount of coverage devoted to some new city called "Mallepa". It was a land full of immigrants, people of all nationalities and cultures. Kei thought he might see if it was all it was being made out to be, so he booked a passage to the mainland. It was partly do to curiosity that he left, but it was also due to the simple fact that he was growing bored of Japan. He had lurked in various cities along the Japanese islands, and he had seen all he wished to see. Now it was time for a change of scenery.

The ship that would take him and a few hundred others to the mainland set off on a morning in late March, so Kei boarded the ship as early as he was allowed and immediately closed himself in the small room he had paid for. He desperately hoped that no one had noticed the hissing of his burning skin underneath his overcoat and his rather floppy-brimmed black hat. Once in his room, he lay down on the low bed with the thin mattress and allowed himself to drift into an uneasy sleep; he was never comfortable letting his guard down with so many mortals around.

Mallepa was nothing more than a normal city. The only difference Kei could see was the variety of nationalities…that were actually living quite well together. It reminded him of an American-like mix of people, though about eighty-five percent of the population was Asian. Deciding that perhaps this could be a place to occupy for a while, Kei took residence in a tiny boarding house, where he had a bedroom (which held nothing more than a twin-sized bed and side table), and then a bathroom that had a shower stall. It would be more than enough for his needs.

When he ran out of the money Luka had saved, Kei began to steal from his victims. It added another heavy stone of guilt to his disintegrating conscience, but as he needed the money, and the dead did not, there was not much to do about it.

He spent the next several years drifting throughout the city, lonely…yet with his heart not especially set on searching for a 'friend'. He knew he was being stubborn, and doing nothing but sending his mind into even more of a depression, but he lost the energy to care. He stopped caring about everything. He didn't bother cutting his hair, and it grew into a long, golden, straggly tangle. His clothing became dirty, for he would wear the same outfit for days on end.

There were times when he would forget to feed, and he would stand in the middle of a busy street for hours, watching the tangle of lives moving toward the absolute destination. It was a morbid fascination of his, pondering how the people would grow old and die, while he remained frozen in time, living forever. It was the most horrid thought ever for him, and yet, he could not keep his mind from journeying down that ever-repeating path.

One warm January night, shortly before dawn, Kei was stumbling through the ruins of a building that had been destroyed a few years previously in a riot when a bomb had been tossed through the window. He found a bit of wall that had remained standing, and he sank against it, slumping back in exhaustion. He had not fed for several days. Every time he saw a mortal and considered feeding from it, he felt a rise of self-revulsion within himself and would force himself to turn away. Even when he tried to kill only the 'evil' mortals, it was no better, because then he felt as if their evil blood was poisoning him and making him even more damned than he was before.

There was no winning…and perhaps…perhaps it was time for him to just…give up and lose.

He closed his eyes. The sun would be up any minute, and then it would shine through the broken walls, directly upon him….

He heard running footsteps nearby, belonging to a small mortal, most likely a child. They were slowing down, and growing closer at the same time. He did not believe he had the energy to move. The swirling colors behind his eyelids made him dizzy, weak.

He suddenly sensed the presence of hot pumping blood directly before him. Without even thinking, his right hand shot out and seized the thin wrist of a young boy who had been about to steal his watch or ring—or both—from his left hand. There was a long moment where the boy struggled to pull his wrist free before Kei's grip weakened and let his own arm drop limply to the ground.

His eyes slid up, and he stared hungrily at the boy's throat. He could see the artery below the delicate skin of the child, and it stirred a painful longing in his blood-deprived body. But no. He had sworn off feeding on children. He had no right to take the life of a child.

Sunlight began seeping past the shattered windows on the non-existent second floor. His left hand was exposed to the deadly rays, and the shock of direct sunlight on his bare skin forced him into semi-consciousness, dropping his head in a sudden loss of energy. He twitched slightly and gaspedgrimacing. His hand began to burn with a hideous hissing and crackling. He could almost see the skin peeling away from his hand, though his eyes were closed and all that he saw was the red of his eyelids.

He sucked in his breath, squeezing his eyes shut even tighter in reaction to the pain.

"Aaa…"

"What's wrong?" The boy's voice was soft, frightened, yet also concerned.

"Go away," Kei half mumbled.

But the boy would not, and reached out a hand to help. "Are you alright?"

Kei angrily slapped the small hand away, wishing to be left in peace so he could die properly. "Leave me alone."

To his relief, the boy turned and fled. Kei bit his lip to restrain himself from crying out; he knew this would be painful, but that did not mean he was going to enjoy it. Just as his entire left arm was beginning to sizzle, the running footsteps returned, though this time they were slightly hindered, and were accompanied by the grumble of wheels.

"I told you to leave me alone," he hissed between clenched teeth. If this boy did not leave soon, he might lose control and make a meal out of him.

"I—I can't leave you here!"

The boy's voice trembled a little, and to Kei's astonishment, he found a large burlap blanket thrown over his body. The agony of the sunlight disappeared, though his body was slow in healing itself due to his weakened state. The boy found Kei's arm and tugged at him to get up. Despite himself, Kei fell forward and almost crushed the boy with his weight, but then he felt himself being shoved onto a cart. He did not even have the strength to fight back and stop this ignorant child from saving him.

A long while later (Kei lost track of the time passed), the burlap blanket was pulled away and Kei found himself flinching despite the fact that he was completely hidden from the sunlight.

"What's with him?" he heard an unfamiliar voice ask. It sounded like it belonged to an older boy, for it had the underlying sound of a breaking voice on the brink of puberty.

"I don't know." Kei opened his eyes at the sound of the little boy's familiar voice. The boy and two others, one of which seemed to be around the same age, were standing around the cart, staring at him. "The sun was hurting him. I couldn't just leave him there, Shinji!"

Shinji, the oldest boy, made a tutting sound in his throat. "He's going to turn us in. You should have left him. He's probably just another damn drunk."

"I don't care," the little boy pouted, and reached over into the cart to tug lightly at Kei's shirtsleeve.

"Mister? You're safe now. Can you move?"

"Sho. Look at his hair," the third boy said suddenly, a trace of awe in his voice. Kei assumed he was talking about the golden color.

Kei blinked a few times and slowly pushed himself up, sliding ungracefully off of the edge of the cart. The boy who had rescued him—or rather, Sho—helped him stand almost upright and led him over to a crate that was against a wall.

Shinji rolled his eyes and walked out of sight. "I'm going to try an open this thing. Get over and help, Toshi. Sho can take care of his friend by himself."

Kei sighed silently and rested his head against the wall, listening to the boys' attempts at opening a heavily locked briefcase. Sho walked away and came back a few minutes later with a bowl of some manner of food.

"I got you some food," he smiled. "You look starved."

He stirred it a few times and then held a spoonful of the mush (Kei had a feeling that it was heated cereal) up to Kei's lips, but Kei would not open his mouth, would not even move.

Mortal food was of no interest to him.

"Come on…" Kei heard Shinji grumble in the other room, and a second later there was a loud crack as the briefcase broke open.

"Shit," Toshi said in surprise.

"Careful," Shinji warned.

Sho seemed to have given up feeding Kei.

Toshi and Shinji were beside themselves with glee, shouting and throwing the money about as if they were in some kind of movie.

"We're rich," Shinji exclaimed, and Kei could hear the grin in his voice.

But he also heard something else: footsteps. He turned his head to look in the direction of the two boys. An unfamiliar man was walking into the room from behind Shinji and Toshi.

"Can we buy a house?" Toshi asked, unaware of the man's presence.

"Yes, of course."

"Let's leave this place."

Kei watched as the man approached. "Little Jap bastards," he heard him mutter.

Shinji obviously had yet to notice the man, because he continued wistfully, "I wanna see the snow…"

The man finally decided to make his presence known. "Mm. Hand it over." He slapped Shinji sharply in the face when the boy turned in surprise. "Put it all back."

Toshi bent down, picking up money, and then suddenly he turned around, a large rock in his hand. "This too, yeah?" he retorted, and threw the rock at the man's stomach. "RUN!" he exclaimed and fled from the building before anyone else could react.

Sho remained standing in front of Kei, staring at the man in shock.

"Sho, run!" Shinji shouted, and made to escape as well, but there was a horrendous bang as the man shot Shinji in the leg and quickly ordered him not to move. Kei flinched at the scent of blood, urging his rising hunger to disappear.

"Nii-chan!" Sho screamed and ran forward, kneeling down next to Shinji, directly in range of the man's gun, should he choose to shoot him as well.

To his surprise, Kei found himself worried about the safety of the child, but he continued to sit on the crate, leaning heavily against the wall. The man did not even know he was there.

"Go get the other kid…" the man snapped at Sho, "or I'll kill this one." When Sho hesitated, he added, "Now!"

With a flurry of footsteps, Sho ran off in the direction Toshi had gone.

Kei watched silently as the man shook his head and muttered, "Filthy punks," and began gathering his money up again. The smell of Shinji's blood was infiltrating Kei's senses, even stronger than before, and he heard a very soft whimper, so quiet that Kei was sure that the man had not heard. Then, with a sharp intake of breath, he realized that the reason Sho had been sent to find Toshi was so that the man could kill them all together and thus be rid of them in the future.

He was not even conscious that he had risen in sudden fury, flying at the man with such force that they crashed through the unstable stone wall. Kei sank his teeth deep into his throat before he could even begin to fight back. The man gave a loud, pained yell of horror, but soon his throat collapsed and he could make no more noise.

The blood was the most delicious thing Kei had ever tasted, and he slurped greedily at the gash he had made on the man's neck. Blood dribbled over his lips and down the left side of his chin, but he did not care. It was the first blood in too many days to count, and he was going to take in as much as he possibly could before the man's time ran out.

On the edge of his consciousness, Kei heard Shinji shouting out Sho's name, calling him back. He abruptly felt someone's stare on him and looked up to see Sho standing several feet away from him, eyes wide. Kei waited for the inevitable terrified scream, but it never came. To his shock, Sho took a tentative step forward, and then another.

Kei frowned in confusion. "Aren't you afraid?" he murmured.

Sho slowly shook his head.

Kei began to straighten up. The man had died while he had been distracted by Sho, and he let the body slide a little as his grip loosened. "Huh." He smiled, and softly expelled a breath of air again.

An odd bit of warmth moved through him when Sho smiled nervously. This child…was accepting him. Of course he was lying; he _was_ afraid—Kei could see it in the way the boy's cheek muscles twitched just so—but he wanted to be Kei's friend.

Perhaps there was hope for him yet.

He blinked when he realized that Sho had said something.

"We need to get out of here," Sho repeated himself, gesturing to the exit. "What if his friends come looking for him?"

Kei stood, dropping the corpse on the ground, and ignoring Sho's involuntary flinch.

"Where is that blanket you had over me earlier?"

Sho ran to retrieve the burlap blanket, and Kei threw it around himself as if it were a cloak, making sure that his head was fully covered.

Shinji was half-sitting, half-lying on the ground outside of the building. He looked as though he were about to faint.

"Help your brother stand," Kei said hurriedly; though the burlap protected him from the direct rays of sun, he could still sense it, and the sunlight all around pained his eyes so that he was forced to squint.

To Be Continued…


	2. Chapter 2

**Gray Lines**

Chapter 2

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Kei and the three children had eventually found a safe place to stay for the day. He used a few strips of bed sheet to bind Shinji's wound, as there was no way they could safely get to a hospital during the day. As Sho and Toshi ran about the room, investigating all of the drawers and closets and underneath the two small beds, Kei fell into a light sleep in the moldy old armchair by the broken closet door. He heard every bit of conversation that went on, though none of it made any impact on his brain.

There was a point around mid afternoon when there was an almost sudden bought of silence, though it did not last long. There was a creak of bedsprings as someone small stood up, and then the patter of bare feet along the dirty wooden floor. They stopped not far from the armchair.

"Is he dead?" Sho whispered. "He's not moved for hours."

"Of course he's not dead, stupid."

"Nii-chan! I'm not stupid! And how do you know?"

There was a frustrated sighing sound. "He's a monster. A _vampire_. Don't you know what a vampire is?"

"I do!" Toshi piped up. "Vampires are cool."

"I wasn't asking you." There was a pause. "We can't trust him, Sho. He'll kill us all."

"Then why hasn't he done it already?" Sho retorted in a childishly stubborn tone.

"How should I know? He's probably waiting for the perfect moment!"

"But he saved your life!"

Another long moment of silence.

"Yeah well, it's not like my life 'll be any good with this leg now. _I can't even feel my foot._"

"But…but…"

There was a quiet sniffling sound, and then an irritated groan from the opposite side of the room.

"Oi, don't start crying. We don't have time for it!"

"Stop being so mean, Shinji," Toshi cut in.

Another hour of near silence passed, the only sound being the soft scratching as Sho and Toshi used pieces of gravel to scribble out a game on the floor. Sirens and the dull rumble of automobiles floated in through the partly open window, past the thick blanket that Kei had hung over the curtain rod to block out the sunlight.

The piece of gravel Sho had been using dropped to the floor with a thin clattering noise. Fabric shifted as he turned.

"Nii-chan, I'm hungry."

"Yeah, I am too."

"I don't know what to do about that. He's jammed the door, and I—what are you doing? _Sho_!"

Kei felt a tug on his sleeve.

"Mister?"

His eyes slid open, and he stared at the boy who stood quietly before him.

"I'm hungry," Sho told him, holding his loudly grumbling stomach. "When are we going to get some food?"

Without answering, Kei straightened and walked over to the blanket covering the window. He stood on one side and carefully pulled a small section of the blanket back so that light shone into the room without touching him. Quickly letting it fall back in place, he turned to the others.

"Can you wait another hour?"

"An _hour_?" Toshi moaned, falling back onto one of the beds. "But I'm starving!"

Kei sighed, and then fished around in his pockets for some money. "Here," he said, handing a few bills to Shinji. "Go buy some food and bring it back for these two."

"I'm not leaving them alone with you!" Shinji exclaimed angrily. "How do I know that you won't make a meal out of them! And besides, I can't walk properly because of that damn bullet."

Kei closed his eyes, willing himself to remain calm. When he opened them again, he replied, "I do not prey on children. You can walk, just be careful. Go buy dinner for them. Or I could send one of the younger boys instead…?"

Shinji finally gave in, and Kei unblocked the door so he could leave. He noticed Sho watching his every movement, and he sat back down in the armchair.

Fifteen minutes after Shinji left, Sho spoke, absently rolling a silver toy car over his own knee. "What's your name?"

Kei smiled slightly and told him.

"Where are you from? Are you Japanese?" Toshi asked him this time.

"Yes. I was born in Japan."

Both boys looked amazed.

"Really?" Sho gasped. "But it's so far away!"

"I left Japan many years ago."

Toshi frowned. "How old are you?"

Kei opened his mouth and then closed it again, thinking. He did not like to dwell on such things as age, because they reminded him of the difference between the mortals and himself.

"Seventy-five."

Both boys stared at him for several seconds, speechless.

"You're lying!"

"Yeah, you can't be that old!"

They looked so childishly stubborn in their claims that Kei gave a slight laugh.

Toshi seemed to think that Kei's laugh indicated that it had been a joke, and he continued, "After all, if you were that old, you would have had to have been born in nineteen…" his brow furrowed as he tried to do the math.

"Nineteen thirty nine. March."

Sho sat up straighter. "You lived during World War II?"

Kei raised his eyebrows. "You know your history."

"He went to school until his parents were killed a year and a half ago in a riot," Toshi said dismissively, more interested in the fact that Kei had lived through such an event. "What was it like? Living back then?"

Kei shrugged. "I don't remember much. I was very young. Everything—"

He broke off as there was sharp knocking on the door.

"Open up!" heard Shinji calling from the other side. "I've got the food!"

Sho jumped up and ran to open the door as soon as Kei had unlocked it. Shinji limped slowly in, holding a brown paper bag full of food for the three boys, pointedly ignoring Kei's presence. As the children tore into the food with the manners of typical little boys, Kei stepped over to the window and checked the amount of sunlight outside. When he found that the light did not pain him, he pulled the blanket down and folded it up, dropping it onto the closest bed.

He waited until the boys had finished eating (that took only a few minutes, with the way they gobbled up the sandwiches Shinji had bought), and then he unlocked the door and peered into the hallway. He heard men's footsteps below them in the small lobby two floors down, moving toward one of the stairwells. Their voices were hushed, cautious. They were stalking someone, and Kei had a feeling that they had guns.

"You were followed," he told Shinji, turning back and shutting the door as quietly as possible.

The boy looked startled. "What?"

"We have to leave now."

All three boys jumped to their feet and scrambled for the door, Sho helping Shinji walk. Just as they were halfway down the hallway, Sho stopped in panic.

"I left my toy car that Papa gave me!" He let go of Shinji and dashed back toward the room.

"What! No, you idiot!" Shinji called out, grabbing onto Toshi's shoulders to keep from falling.

Sho reappeared at the door, car in hand, just as the men exited the opposite stairwell. Sho screamed and ducked back into the room as a bullet barely missed his hand.

"_Sho_!"

"You two get out of here," Kei ordered sharply, and leapt forward, breaking the neck of the closest man. He stole the man's gun and ran into the room before the second man could shoot him. Sho was hiding behind the armchair, hands pressed against his ears, and Kei roughly pulled him to his feet.

"Come on," he hissed. He smashed the window and picked Sho up as he threw himself out of the third-story room. Sho gasped and wrapped his arms so tightly around Kei's neck that Kei had to physically pry them away.

They hit the ground harder than Kei would have liked, but he kept his balance, and he quickly let Sho down so he could run on his own.

"How will we find Nii-chan and Toshi?" Kei could tell by the boy's voice that he was having difficulty running so fast, and Kei forced himself to slow down.

"Don't worry. I can find them."

They stopped by a fish store that was around the corner from the building they had been in.

"Stay here, so that I can come back once I get the others." Without waiting for Sho's answer, he turned and went back the way they came.

He could hear gunshots and shouting, and he wondered how many men had come to take out their revenge on the three poor boys. Entering the building, he spotted Toshi and Shinji hidden behind the lobby desk. Shinji appeared to be unconscious, but he did not have time to wonder about that, because the second he entered the building, a bullet pierced his left arm. Baring his teeth in pain and anger, Kei shot the man twice in the head and then immediately flew at the third and last man. He kicked the man into a potted plant and then knelt amongst the scattered dirt to drink from his unconscious form.

Once the man was dead, Kei got up and went over to Shinji and Toshi.

"He fainted!" Toshi exclaimed when Kei knelt down next to Shinji.

"It must be because of his leg. We can take him to the hospital once we find Sho."

"Where is he? Is he all right?"

"He's safe. Come on; I'll carry Shinji."

To Be Continued…

* * *

A/N: Lol, it was quite fun making up Kei's background story. I hope you all enjoyed it! 


	3. Chapter 3

**Gray Lines**

Chapter 3

* * *

The warm Mallepa winter slowly ended, though it went unnoticed by the three children that now lived in a small apartment with Kei. Shinji still seemed reluctant to trust him, though now Kei would never even dream of harming the boys. He had grown quite fond of both Sho and Toshi, rather despite himself. He also now knew that he would never follow Luka's advice to find another 'friend', but instead he had found real friends, whom he would allow to remain mortal, and thus escape his damned fate of eternal life. 

During the short time he had known the boys, he learned quite a lot. Not very long before their paths had crossed, the children had run away from the orphanage where they were living. Toshi had been left in the orphanage when he was very young, and when Shinji and Sho were put in, he quickly became close friends with Sho. Shinji, whom saw it as his duty to take care of the younger boys, did not fully appreciate the fact that Kei had somewhat taken over that job. Shinji would shortly turn fifteen, and he did not like to be told what to do, so Kei usually had to leave him to his own devices. Toshi was nine, and Sho was eight. Kei found that Sho could be extremely childish at times, and was by far the most sensitive, though Sho tried not to show it.

Not even two months after Shinji turned fifteen, he found himself a job working in a fish store. The owner gave him a room to stay, and Shinji left them. He tried to convince Sho to come along with him, but Sho was so torn between going with his brother and staying with Kei that he burst into tears.

"H-how am I supposed to choose?"

Shinji groaned in annoyance. He did not like to see Sho acting like a little child, and Kei noticed that he always seemed to lose his temper when Sho showed weakness.

Kei bent down so that he and Sho were at eye level. "Sho," he began softly, "it's alright. You can go with your brother. You'll be well taken care of."

Sho was so startled by the suggestion that he hiccupped and blinked up at Kei through watery eyes. "But I can't leave you all alone!" he exclaimed, throwing himself against Kei and burying his face in Kei's upper stomach.

Kei silently sighed, placing his hands on Sho's shoulders. "You need to make a decision, Sho. Either stay with me or go with Shinji."

Sho mumbled something into Kei's shirt.

"What?" Kei had to pull him away so he could understand.

"I want to stay with you," Sho repeated stubbornly, looking at the floor—or rather, anywhere but Shinji.

Kei forced himself to keep from smiling. He had not wanted to admit it, but he had been slightly worried when Shinji suggested that Sho go with him. Of the three children, Kei had grown very close to the youngest boy, and in turn, Sho seemed to look up to the vampire. Kei had a feeling that Toshi just saw him as a way to keep the adults away, as well as a source for something of a home. Kei knew he was being selfish to want the boys to stay with him, but he pushed the thought aside for another time.

"You can still visit Shinji whenever you want," Kei told him lightly as Sho used a sleeve to wipe at his eyes and nose. "It's not like you'll never see each other again. I wouldn't worry about it so much if I were you."

Now that Shinji was not around to disapprove of everything Kei did, he and the two boys were free to enjoy themselves more often. Kei took the boys to an arcade during some evenings, and once a week he allowed them to pick any movie they wanted to go see in the theater that was in the South Ward.

* * *

One evening when Kei had taken the two boys out to an arcade, and he had allowed them to run about on their own after giving them each enough money for several games, he noticed a man in a crisp business suit was walking slowly through the isles of the arcade, clearly holding a gun in his sleeve. Kei straightened up from where he had been leaning against a gaming machine and followed the man with his eyes. There was something familiar about the man… 

Instead of stalking the man, Kei went in search of the boys. He had not seen either of them for quite a while now. He strode through the isles, between the gaming machines and the kids and teenagers who played on them. He had just spotted Toshi out of the corner of his eye when he heard a shrill scream several isles away that was quickly followed by a gun shot.

Kei sprinted toward the sounds, and as he rounded a corner he saw the man with one hand around Sho's thin neck, the other holding the gun against his temple.

"What did you do with my money?" he was demanding furiously. Most of the gamers had vacated the area when they heard the gunshot, so there was no one to stop him.

Kei saw Sho's eyes trained on the gun, but then they turned toward him.

"K—Kei," he choked, gasping as the man tightened his grip on his throat. Tears were streaming down Sho's cheeks.

"Let him go," Kei ordered sharply, stepping forward, and the man instinctively aimed the gun at him.

"Don't move any closer, or I'll kill him," the man threatened, lifting Sho by the throat and pressing him against the wall. Sho cried out and tried to pull the man's fingers away, kicking out his legs when it did not work.

Kei's ears were ringing in rage. "Put him down," he snarled slowly, his face horribly distorted by his scowl.

"Tell me where my money is, and I'll think about it," the man retorted.

The next moment happened too fast for Kei to really recall afterward, but the next thing he knew he had seized the man and pulled his head back to tear into his throat. The man released Sho in shock, but Kei didn't care anymore. He hurled the man into one of the gaming machines. He was about to pick up the man again when he felt small arms around his waist.

"Stop, it Kei! Please stop!"

He dropped the man in surprise and stared dully at the damage he had caused. Then he looked up to see Toshi standing a few feet away, watching. Kei let his arms drop to his sides.

"Let's go," he said softly, stepping away from Sho.

* * *

Sho and Toshi continued to steal for money, which Kei did not mind, as the people they stole from did not deserve the money in the first place, but as the heists became more and more dangerous, he felt that he should teach the boys to defend themselves, lest something like what had happened at the arcade come to pass again. He bought several different guns and the ammunition to go with them, and started to give Sho and Toshi lessons in shooting. Toshi did not have nearly as much enthusiasm as Sho did with the guns. For him, it was simply a way to defend himself. Sho, on the other hand, seemed to enjoy the feeling of using a gun, and quickly grew to be quite a shot—though Kei frequently had to remind him to keep his head, or everything would go awry. 

As the years passed, Kei had an interesting time dealing with both Sho and Toshi as they became teenagers. Toshi acquired a job at the local pizza restaurant, but Sho did not like the idea of being told what to do by some "asshole adult", so he continued to steal for a living, with Toshi helping out by planning the heists and drugging pizzas which he then pretended to deliver to the gangs they stole from. They split the money three ways, and life went relatively well.

Kei and Sho moved out of the rundown apartment that they had been occupying, and bought a more modern and expensive apartment to live in. Along with Sho's teenage years came his fashion sense, and Kei quickly found himself wearing much more stylish clothing at Sho's insistence. Kei had never bothered with fashionable clothing before, because it usually was just that; a bother. But Sho was stubborn, and Kei would do almost anything to keep the boy happy, so he allowed Sho to pick out his clothes for a while until he himself established what he did and did not like to wear.

* * *

Kei soon discovered that Sho had grown far too dependent on him, and it troubled him. 

Kei had been trying to sleep in the darkness of his room, but familiar dreams lurked behind his closed eyelids, and he was spared no peace.

He groaned, still lying on his bed, but then he slowly sat up a moment later when he grew tired of simply lying there. His eyes throbbed, and he pressed a hand to his forehead in a useless attempt to push the pain away. Finally sighing, he swung his legs off of the bed and walked slowly over to the cylindrical fish tank that was in the center of the room. Sho had bought the fish tank and the numerous fish inside from the fish store that Shinji now owned.

Kei crouched by the tank, watching the glittering orange fish. He followed one of the fish with his finger on the side of the glass, thinking about how much things had changed.

Shinji, now a full-grown adult, looked older than Kei ever would. He still had not forgiven Kei for stealing his brother away, which Kei had a feeling was what Shinji believed he had done. Kei had never intended on taking Sho away from his brother; the boy had made that decision on his own. Shinji was not coping well with his life; Kei knew from Sho that the man had been using powerful drugs.

He glanced up suddenly, seeing the edge of his mirror out of the corner of his eye. He stood and stepped over to the mirror, peering at his face. He looked very tired and ill, with dark shadows lining his eyes. He pressed his fingers against his temples and cheeks, as if checking to make sure that his skin was still soft, and not hard and leathery like it appeared in the mirror. It was definitely apparent that he had not fed in nights.

He did not notice the door open, nor that Sho had poked his head into the room.

"Hi."

Kei jumped slightly and stared at the teenager for a moment. He wondered if Sho even realized how much he depended on him. He turned away and sighed.

Worried, Sho walked over to him. "What's wrong?"

"I'm fine," Kei replied dismissively, walking away toward the bed again.

Sho remained by the mirror, looking at his reflection and touched his bangs. "But you look terrible.

"Ah." Always leave it to Sho to be so blunt.

Kei lay down on his bed again, hoping that Sho would catch the hint and leave him be. However, he was not that lucky. Sho walked over and crouched by the candles on Kei's bedside table, taking out a cigarette pack and placing one between his lips. He laid the pack on the table and then leaned over with the cigarette in his mouth, lighting it with the flame of the nearest candle. Sho had unfortunately picked up the habit from Kei, whom smoked when he felt stressed.

Kei closed his eyes briefly. "Sho," he began, and then hesitated. "Would it be better if we gradually went our own ways?"

Sho's face froze for a second. "What the hell are you saying?" he then demanded, standing up and walking over to the curtained windows. After a moment, he pushed aside the curtain so that a triangle of very bright light cut through the darkness of Kei's room.

Startled and more than a little frightened, Kei flinched and put a hand up to protect his eyes. He stared at Sho in worried confusion. What was Sho playing at?

Sho turned slowly to look at him, as if to see if he was still there and alive.

Still a little unnerved, Kei kicked his right foot toward Sho. He gave a half laugh, half sigh, and smiled slightly.

"Idiot."

Kei's smile must have consoled whatever was bothering Sho, for he also smiled a little and let the curtain fall closed. Sho walked back over to the bed and sat down on the floor, leaning against the bed.

Kei sat up and slowly placed his feet over the edge of the bed so that he was sitting next to Sho, and Sho leaned back and sighed. There was definitely something bothering the young man, Kei decided. Sho was hardly ever this quiet.

He rested his elbows on his knees and let his head dropped abruptly, and when he felt Sho's eyes on him, he stared up at the ceiling before slowly looking at Sho.

There was an unsettling moment as they silently stared at each other, but before it could prolong itself for too long, Sho spoke.

"We'll always be together, won't we?"

"Always," Kei assured him, though he disliked voicing such a vow with so little time to think. What did Sho mean when he said always?

Sho was looking through his knees at the floor, but Kei still watched him. He was about to reach over and ruffle Sho's hair encouragingly, and he had even begun to raise his hand when he thought better of it. It was not just Sho who had grown dependent on Kei. Kei realized now that they had both become dependent on each other's companionship, and if Kei did not do something soon, they would both be drastically torn when and if life took a turn for the worse.

To Be Continued…

* * *

A/N:Ugh. Sometimes I get so annoyed with the dialogue that is directly from the movie (or in this last case, from a camera test)…because honestly, the writing is horrible. Or just…cheesy. Sorry. I love Hyde and Gackt, I do, but…please. So I just do my best at working around it, and I hope you enjoy the results. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Gray Lines**

Chapter 4

* * *

Kei used the heists as opportunities to instruct Sho in the art of combat, and this worked quite well; since there was an actual element of danger, Sho did not slack off like he normally would have. Sho seemed to think it was all a game, though. Kei never could sense any fright from the teen, but for now he decided not to worry about it, as Sho could hold his own quite nicely when he was paying attention.

"To your right!" Kei called out suddenly, noting that Sho had not been looking in that direction, and one of the gang members had used that to his advantage and had his gun trained on Sho.

"Okay, I got it!" A split second later the man fell dead.

Sitting on the roof a van, Kei leaned back on his palms and kept up a running commentary for Sho's benefit.

"Here he comes. Left. Right. Sho, are you concentrating? Next, watch your left."

Sho heard all of these commands and followed them instantly, not even pausing to question Kei's word. Kei knew this could be dangerous for Sho if he trusted Kei too much, and on some days it deeply worried him. Still…he could not even help the rush of pride he felt when Sho carried out his orders perfectly. He watched as Sho danced out of the way of the bullets, twirling and hopping in a way that reminded Kei of a terrible ballet dancer. A slightly amused smile found its way onto Kei's face.

"This gun's no good…" Sho checked the gun and realized there were no bullets.

Shaking his head in disbelief as Sho stood foolishly in plain sight of the enemy, unarmed, Kei jumped down from the roof of the van.

Just as Sho was handing the gun to Kei, a bullet shot out of nowhere, and Sho ducked just barely in time, cursing.

Glancing down, Kei noticed a bullet hole in Sho's white and black jacket. Sho's _favorite_ jacket. "Ouch."

Sho looked confused at Kei's quiet comment. "Huh?"

Kei pointed. "There's a hole in your jacket. Aa aa…" Just as he spoke, he realized what was going to happen.

Sho turned abruptly with his reloaded guns and advanced on the enemy, exclaiming furiously, "That cost me a lot, assholes!"

Kei made a face. "Here we go again," he muttered, gracefully leaning forward and flying after Sho, pulling his own gun out to cover Sho. When the teen went on the rampage, it was never good, and Kei was forced to make up for his foolish mistakes.

Sho was scowling as he threw himself behind some crates to hide from the barrage of bullets. Kei simply stood before Sho in full view, stepping out of the way of the bullets, allowing them to pass him by.

"Stay out of this," Sho pouted.

Kei stepped out of the way of another bullet. "What about some gratitude?" His tone matched perfectly that of an aggravated guardian—which he supposed he was, in a manner of speaking.

Sho was determined to have the last word, though, and he continued, "Bullets can't kill you, so stay still." His frown deepened, and he muttered, "Idiot."

Kei knew not to let Sho goad him, and he did not fall for the insult. "They still sting, though," he replied reasonably.

"Okay, okay." Sho got up and did a cartwheel over the crates, shooting and getting out of the way of the large red balls that broke free and were rolling around the warehouse floor.

Kei laughed, seeing that Sho had finally managed to perform that move after many unsuccessful tries. "You can do it if you try."

Sho scowled again and turned back, "It's easy to say…when you can't be killed."

Kei sighed and turned away, intending on spitefully leaving Sho to defend himself. However, then he thought better of it and turned back, following after Sho. He could not trust Sho to protect himself when he was in one of his moods, after all.

* * *

It turned out that Sho had not needed Kei's help after all, and soon most of the gang members were either killed or ran away, frightened. The men in direct possession of the money were the toughest to handle, though Toshi's drugged pizza should have put them all to sleep. While Sho dealt with the men holding the briefcase full of cash, Kei wandered into a nearby security van and found the guard sitting by the monitors.

The man appeared to be half-drugged by the mostly eaten pizza slice lying on a plate beside him, and he did not notice as Kei stepped up behind him. Kei grasped the back of the chair the guard was sitting in and spun it around so that the man was facing him. The man gave a startled yelp and stood up, lifting an arm to strike out at Kei, but the vampire was too quick for him, and within a second Kei had thrown him against the inside of the van, stunning him. Kei gripped the man's shoulder tightly as he bit into his neck and began to drink.

He could taste the drugs in the blood but he could not pull away. He slowly lowered the man to the floor, kneeling over him as he drank. Then, on the edge of his consciousness, he thought he heard Sho's voice.

"—ei. _Kei_. Let's go."

Forcing himself to drop the man, Kei stumbled out of the van and smiled drunkenly at Sho. He stepped onto the ground again, but his balance was off, and he tripped.

"What's the matter with you?" Sho asked, rolling his eyes and steadying Kei with his free hand. "And there's still blood on your lips."

Kei blinked slowly and used the sleeve of his jacket to wipe the blood off, before licking the last remaining traces away with his tongue.

"Was that guy drugged?" Sho asked after a moment as they were leaving.

"Mm," Kei nodded slightly in affirmation.

"Shit. You need to be more careful about the guys you—"

Kei cut him off with a laugh. "You're saying _I_ should be more careful? I know what I'm doing, Sho. I've been doing this for almost sixty years."

Sho was silent for several moments until they reached the street. "I just think you're getting careless, is all," he said quietly, as if afraid to unleash the wrath of Kei—which was never pleasant, he had discovered quite soon after meeting the vampire.

Kei restrained himself from rolling his eyes and simply did not offer a reply. He honestly felt that Sho should not be the one telling him these things. The boy was _far_ more careless than Kei had ever been, and it was because of that that Kei had grown quite knowledgeable off the different ways to remedy mortal wounds.

There was not enough time for them to meet up with Toshi as they had planned, for Kei could feel the sun just over the horizon, and he needed to get back to the apartment before it rose. The closer they came to the apartment, the sleepier Kei felt, and it became more and more frequent that he would stumble over his own feet or have to be pulled out of the way before he walked into another person. He realized that the guard must have just had a strong system and had not been affected by the drugs as much as hoped…. Kei, on the other hand, now had an entire body of drug-filled blood, and as blood was the only thing that kept him going, he was being affected worse than the guard had been.

He felt Sho's hands under his arms, leading him up the stairs to their apartment, and by the time they reached it, Kei had just enough energy to stagger over to the couch and collapse onto it. He was asleep within minutes, barely noticing that Sho was hurriedly pulling the thick drapes shut over all of the windows.

* * *

The next night, they walked down to the South Ward and sat at an outside restaurant. While Kei watched the table (and Sho's black leather jacket which Sho had draped over the back of his chair once discovering that the night was too warm), Sho ordered two drinks. He discreetly drank some of the glass intended for Kei so that it looked to any possible observers that he had actually drunk from it. Within five minutes of their arrival, Kei heard the sound of Toshi's mo-ped, and he and Sho looked up as Toshi rode up, parked the mo-ped, and then walked over to their table, slamming a wad of bills onto the table. Kei winced slightly at the clatter it made as the glasses threatened to topple over.

"Not as much as I thought…" Toshi grumbled.

Sho picked up the cash, examining it. "You checked all the bodies?"

"Of course. I didn't waste my time with toy cars."

Kei dimly remembered Sho's terribly hidden interest in the collectable toy cars they had come across in the area that they had found the cash the previous night.

Sho suddenly tossed the money to Kei to hold, staring at Toshi with a distrusting expression that Kei thought was faked. "Very fishy."

Toshi frowned. "Get lost."

Deciding to play along with Sho—it was always entertaining to get a rise out of Toshi—Kei raised his eyebrows. "Most suspicious…"

"See," Sho spoke again, as if Kei's word on it proved everything.

"Piss off," Toshi snapped, getting irritated with the game. "I'll make it up to you. Got a _big project_ lined up." He emphasized this claim by speaking those two words in English and slamming the table once again.

But apparently Sho was not consoled, and Kei had a feeling that something was actually bothering Sho, because he got up and moved to the next table in a huff. "You're all talk. And you didn't put enough drugs in the pizza. The guards were still awake!"

Aah. So that was it, Kei thought to himself as he stared up at the sky, determined not to add anything else to the argument. Sho was still mad about the fact that they had to fight and Kei ended up getting drugged himself. He mentally sighed, knowing it would not bode well to get on Sho's case right now.

Toshi did not seem to see the problem. "We all make mistakes…"

Overcome with anger, or frustration—Kei could not really tell—Sho held up two fingers.

"Cigarette," he demanded in a strained voice.

Kei tossed a cigarette at him, but it went through Sho's fingers and hit his face. Sho immediately scowled.

Toshi was confused. "What are you doing?"

"It should work," Sho complained.

"Trust me, Sho," Kei replied calmly, leaning forward and glancing briefly at Toshi. The fact that Kei had intended on the cigarette hitting Sho was entirely beside the point. Sho was too tense.

"I do."

"What are you two doing?" Toshi seemed to have given up trying to figure out their antics, and he pulled his helmet back on and prepared to leave. "I'm going back to work."

"Watch. I'll get it," Sho retorted. Just as Toshi was about to turn on his mo-ped, he seemed to come to his senses. "Hey—Toshi. Take care." He made their secret wave goodbye, which translated basically into something like, "Keep your nose clean."

Kei grabbed the chance and tossed another cigarette when Sho was not looking, and Sho accidentally caught it.

Looking pleased with himself, Sho exclaimed, "Pretty cool, huh?"

Kei simply smiled and shook his head in amusement. Sho's ego had grown through the years, and he was nothing like the small, quiet boy he used to be. Kei was just happy that Sho had retained the more important personality features like loyalty to his friends, a childish innocence about certain things in life, and a quiet efficiency in dealing with problems. If Sho had become an entirely different person, Kei knew he would have left in an instant, without any regrets.

So he was happy that Sho was still like the little Sho that had found him minutes from death that one January morning eleven years ago.

"Come on, Kei, let's go."

Kei looked up, realizing he had just been sitting there silently for several moments, and Sho had grown bored.

"Don't you need to feed, anyway?" Sho stood up, placing a few bills on the table next to the forgotten drinks.

Kei shrugged. "Eh, I don't feel like it tonight. Let's do something fun instead," he continued, to prevent Sho from protesting. He did not want to take any lives that night if he could help it.

"Alright, then. What should we do?"

"How about…hey, what days was the carnival on? Is it still going on?"

Sho's eyes lit up, the childish side that Kei was so fond of taking over. "Yeah, it is. You want to go?"

"Sure. Why not?"

They spent an enjoyable night at the carnival, playing and winning most of the shooting games. Kei gave his stuffed animal prize to a little Korean girl who was crying over her dropped cotton candy, and she instantly stopped crying, unable to believe that she now had her very own stuffed penguin.

About an hour later, as they were getting off of a very fast spinning and whirling ride, Sho tripped into Kei and threw up all over Kei's blue patterned shirt.

"Ugh, _Sho_!" Kei stepped back, disgusted.

"Sorry!" Sho cried, looking horrified. "I didn't mean to—ohh, I don't feel—"

"Don't you dare puke on me again!" Kei interrupted sharply, trying to ignore the revolting stench of the vomit on his shirt. "What am I supposed to do about this now?" he demanded angrily.

"I…you can wear my jacket," Sho offered, untying his leather jacket from around his waist.

Kei sighed. "Fine." They found the building with the restrooms, and the second they were in the door, Kei wrenched his shirt off and tossed it in the sink before pulling several paper towels from the dispenser. He poured hot water onto the towels and washed all of the stray vomit from his chest, still feeling gross from it. Once he was mostly satisfied, he tossed out the paper towels and made Sho rinse off his shirt, because he was "not going to touch it until it's clean again."

He took Sho's jacket and pulled it on, zipping it to halfway up his chest. Once Sho had rinsed the shirt as best as he could, they left the restroom and headed home.

"I think I've had enough of carnivals for a while," Kei muttered as they walked through the exit.

As soon as they got home, Kei went into his room to change into a fresh shirt. He grew tired of Sho sulking in the living room, so he wandered into the next room and lay down on the bedlike leather couch. After a while, his exhaustion from not feeding took over, and he fell asleep before the night was even over.

He slept peacefully for a long while, but then his mind was drawn into a dream of a memory from long ago.

_He and Luka were standing on the beach by the waves of the ocean. The full moon shone through the red atmosphere, rendering it a rusty, bloody orange that reflected on the water._

_"This is what it looks like…" Luka murmured. "It's been so long, I'd forgotten… It'd be beautiful in the sunlight, the waves sparkling…"_

_Kei was growing nervous. "Let's go," he insisted. "Sun's coming out."_

_"You go. I've had enough."_

_Kei felt a surge of panicky fright as he sensed both the sun's approach and Luka's true reason for coming to the beach. He took Luka's arm. "Let's go. Come on!"_

_Luka shoved him away. "Go…by yourself…"_

_Kei bit his lip, struggling with himself. Just as the sun began to rise over the water, he turned and fled, his shoes sliding in the sand._

With a start, Kei's eyes snapped open, and he gasped. Then his eyes slid shut and then opened more slowly. He could still hear Luka's tired, hoarse voice….

_"We watched the setting sun. A perfect orange glow. Both about to cry. For our final farewell."_

He didn't notice the soft footsteps until he heard Sho's voice.

"What's up?"

Kei looked up, mildly startled. "Aah." He looked down, not wishing to meet Sho's gaze. Whenever he had that dream, it made life seem so much more false, delicate. He felt like everything would come crumbling down around him, and he would lose all he held dear to him.

"Are you okay?"

He shook his head, hand pressed against his pounding forehead.

Sho walked over and sat down in the white chair beside the couch, taking out a cigarette. "That same dream?" He really was more perceptive than Kei sometimes gave him credit for.

"I'm fine," Kei muttered stubbornly, and then turned to him. "Sho. You should get out more."

"It's fine. I don't want a tan."

Kei turned away and rolled his eyes. He put his bare feet into his boots and stood up.

"Let's spend some time apart."

Sho looked surprised. "What do you mean?" he said quickly.

Kei walked over to the table and poured himself a glass of water. "Don't adjust your life to mine. Enjoy yourself while you can…before you get old. Remember, _I don't age_."

"Not this again!" Sho exclaimed angrily. "Mallepa is full of immigrants…different races, all coming and going, minding their own business. And that's how we get along…"

Kei ignored him. "I've fed on some evil men… I'm becoming like them. I might turn on you."

Sho looked up. "As if you'd dare. Jerk."

Kei stared at him for a moment and then laughed once, lightly. This was the reason why Sho had lasted so long, wasn't it? His faith in Kei was unfathomable, it seemed. It was unnerving.

A little while later, Kei convinced Sho to go visit his brother, and he was left alone in the apartment for the afternoon.

Kei was in the middle of transferring the wet laundry from the washing machine to the dryer when he heard the door to the apartment open and slam shut again. Kei tossed the last shirt into the dryer, shut the door, and then turned it on. He heard a crash and then swearing in the living room.

"What's wrong?" he asked as he went into the room to find Sho grudgingly trying to right the lamp he had knocked over.

To Kei's surprise, Sho started ranting and swearing in Cantonese (Kei caught a few words like "dead fish" and "drugs" and "bastards"), and Kei had to grab Sho's wildly gesturing arm to get his attention.

"Slow down, Sho! I can't understand it when you talk that fast in Cantonese."

Sho looked sheepish for a second, and apologized before resuming his speech in Japanese.

"On the way to Shi-chan's, there were these two guys following me. I had to trick them to get away from them, and I went to see Shi-chan, and he was doing drugs on his roof again," Sho muttered, still angry. He sat down in a chair. "And then these two bastards showed up—not the ones from earlier, though—wanting money from him, and they knocked him down and insulted him, and I got angry." Kei wondered if it was possible for Sho to scowl any more than he was currently. "Then Shi-chan got mad at _me_ for helping."

Kei sighed. Shinji was still sore about his crippled leg, then. Kei wished the man would grow up and forget all of his ridiculous little grudges, because it would make life so much easier.

To Be Continued….

* * *

A/N: I keep forgetting which chapter I'm on, and when to update. I do apologize, but I know that will get annoying after a while. So I just hope you enjoyed reading the chapter! And don't forget to review if you have the time. :winks: 


	5. Chapter 5

Gray Lines

Chapter 5

* * *

That night, Kei went out without Sho for a change. Sho had protested, wanting to come along, but Kei had been adamant, and in the end, Sho stayed home and sulked (as far as Kei knew, that is).

The night was clear, and a cool summer breeze tickled pleasantly through Kei's hair and thin white sweater as he walked through the park. There were not many people around, for most of the children were at home asleep, and the working adults were too tired to stay out very late. Kei wandered aimlessly through the park, not following the pebble paths, but instead choosing his own path.

He noticed that there was a young woman working on a large mural in the center of the park. It was odd seeing the usually empty area suddenly filled with a large wall on which there would soon be a painting of some sort, and Kei stared at the progress the woman had gotten through so far. It was not the best of work he had ever seen—after all, he had lived through several decades and had seen the products of greatly talented artists—but it was well done, and Kei smiled, nodding politely to the woman when she noticed his gaze. The woman stared back at him for several seconds before returning to her painting, and then Kei walked slowly away, smiling to himself.

It was nice to know that amongst the multitude of violence and hatred in the world, there were still those people who would take the time to put more beauty into the world for others to see. Kei hoped that this woman would continue to use her painting to erase the destruction from the world. He would do his part by ceasing to take mortal lives each night. He knew he could live for a while without blood to sustain him, and he would stretch that time as long as he could.

When he had enough of the night, Kei returned to the apartment to find it dark and empty. He wondered for a moment if he should leave again and see if he could find Sho, but he thought better of it, feeling that it would be smarter to allow Sho to be on his own for a change. He would never grow up otherwise. Kei had often pondered what the gray line that lead Sho on his path through life was like, if it would separate from Kei's non-existent one, or stay tangled with him forever, as Sho seemed intent on doing. Kei usually tried not to think about what he himself wanted. He would not admit it even to himself, but he was afraid of what his true wishes were.

Not bothering to turn any of the lights on, Kei sat heavily down in one of the wide chairs Sho usually occupied, leaning his elbows on his knees and weaving his fingers into his hair. Life never used to be this complicated with Sho, but something had changed, gone wrong. Kei wished that he could figure out what that problem was before something else fell apart.

He leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes, feeling drained—which was probably the very best word to describe him, since that is exactly what he was, both physically and mentally. He had fallen into a troubled and uncomfortable sleep within moments.

It seemed that mere minutes later he was being shaken roughly awake, and he opened his eyes to see wide, dark brown eyes directly in front of his own. Disoriented, he frowned and mumbled something unintelligible.

"_Kei_! Wake up, you idiot!"

So it was Sho. But why did he have brown eyes? He never took his blue contacts out these days unless they were hurting him or had been in too long…

Kei's confused thoughts were interrupted as he was pulled unkindly to his feet and practically dragged across the floor. Something was wrong—

"Sho, what're you…?" He didn't finished his sentence, for right then a slash of vivid, brilliant light seemed to pour through all of the large windows at once. He was sure that to Sho's eyes it was nothing more than a weak illumination of the apartment from the very early dawn, but to Kei's vampiric sight, it was as if staring directly into the sun. He made an odd sound in his throat and struggled against Sho to block as much light from his eyes as possible.

"Yes, I know—I'm working on it!" Sho snapped, clearly irritated at Kei's inability to walk properly on his own, not to mention the panic Kei could hear in his voice.

It seemed to take ages, though it was perhaps no more than ten seconds, but finally they made it to Kei's room and Sho slammed the door behind them before depositing Kei on the bed and double-checking that the curtains in the room were shut.

The danger now over, Kei's mind shut off once more, and he did not see Sho until that evening.

* * *

Sho was decked out in his usual outfit that he loved to wear when they went on heists when Kei stepped into the kitchen to pour himself a glass of water to trick his aching thirst away. Kei, on the other hand, had been lazy and simply threw on a pair of loose black cotton pajama pants, his red tank top that proclaimed "Safe Sex Forever" across the front (Sho had gotten a kick out of it when Kei had bought the shirt: he pointed out that it was the perfect shirt for Kei, since vampires can't even _have_ sex, and therefore Kei certainly was "safe" forever), and a jacket that hung off of his shoulders.

Several guns were scattered on the counter.

"Do you know something I don't?" Kei smiled slightly as he sipped his water. It wasn't working.

"Toshi's got everything set," Sho replied, standing up and sliding one of the guns over to him.

Kei simply nodded and poured out the last half of his glass of water, no longer interested in it.

On the way to the warehouse, Sho outlined the entire plan to him, explaining what signals they were supposed to wait for before going in, and where the cash was supposed to be.

"It should be relatively easy, because Toshi put more drugs in the pizza this time," Sho added. "We'll be able to just walk by and take the cash from right under their noses."

While Toshi was delivering the drugged pizzas, Kei and Sho slipped quietly up the stairwell from the floor-level garage. Sho led the way, gun held before him. When they reached the first door, Sho carefully pushed it open and stepped out before briefly glancing back at Kei.

_The coast is clear_, Kei could almost hear him thinking.

Kei stuck his head out of the door and saw Sho aiming his gun at an unconscious boy who was probably around Sho's age. The boy had a partially empty box of pizza on his lap. Kei glanced around, his jacket hanging precariously on his shoulders. He heard a phone begin ringing in a nearby room. Turning back, he watched as Sho waved his gun in front of the boy's eyes and then tapped his cheek with the barrel of the gun. He looked away again; the phone continued to ring.

"Toshi did okay after all…" Sho glanced over at Kei and raised his eyebrows.

Kei made a soft sound of agreement, but before he could say anything, they were both startled by a loud clattering noise. Kei snapped his head toward the noise, and Sho aimed his gun at a man who fell out of the doorway. Without them doing anything, the man toppled over, unconscious.

Kei frowned and glanced at Sho as Sho did the same. The phone was still ringing, and it was beginning to bother Kei. It felt like some sort of warning.

"What's going on?" Sho asked, looking to Kei for the answers as always.

Kei sighed and shrugged. "No idea."

Suddenly Kei heard gunshots, and they both looked up, listening.

"Idiot's blown our cover," Sho grumbled, clearly annoyed. He walked forward into the dark stairway, and Kei followed without a word.

The gunshots continued, getting closer. Kei and Sho entered the second level of the parking garage. Kei spotted a young man shooting up the stairs as he backed down the other stairs. He checked to make sure Sho had seen, but Sho was already a step ahead: as the man sensed their presence and whirled around, Sho kicked the gun out of the man's hand.

Within a split second, Kei and Sho were back to back with their guns trained on the man—Kei using his right, Sho using his left hand—and the man had pulled out an additional two guns and had them aimed at both Kei and Sho, less than a foot away from their faces.

Several tense seconds passed, with no one in the triangle wanting to make the move that would end everything, and then almost at the same moment they all slowly backed up several steps. Kei's eyes flicked briefly past the shoulders of the man to see that the gang members were not nearly as asleep as previously thought: they had surrounded the three men. With nothing else to do, Kei, Sho and the other man shifted their guns slightly and began shooting at the gang members until their bullets ran out and the enemies seemed to have all fallen.

The three closed in again, dropping the empty magazines and reloading.

"Who are you?" Sho demanded.

The man was not about to give in so easily. "My question too," he retorted.

Kei almost rolled his eyes when Sho instantly said, "It's none of your business." Sho paused, listening.

Kei could hear more men coming to attack.

"What's going on?" Sho asked for the second time that night.

"More of 'em than I thought…" The man seemed just as confused and thrown off as Kei felt.

Kei's eyes shifted to glance at Sho, and he saw Sho's eyes widen.

"A lot more…"

"Join forces?" The man suggested suddenly.

"Not much of a choice."

They all swung around and began shooting.

Within moments, Kei had been separated from Sho. There were so many of the enemy—

Kei's gun was shot out of his hand, and then he glanced around and just barely dodged a bullet sent for his head. He began to back up, and dodged another bullet. He ducked under the next, and in the same moment grabbed a dead man from the floor, using his gun to kill the man who was shooting at him.

Feeling tired and on the verge of boredom, Kei continued to move around with the corpse of the man, almost as if he were dancing. He had a faint thought of déjà vu—hadn't some vampire done the same thing in an old American novel he had once read?—and then he spotted another enemy, shooting him without even thinking. He danced back, shot another, and then another on the stairs. He turned and shot two more. He smiled slightly, knowing that he was once again without bullets, so he tossed the corpse at a man that was running at him. Though the impact could not have possibly killed the man, he must have been stunned, for he did not move to retaliate.

Kei kissed his fingers and lifted them in farewell. He felt quite odd this evening. It was as if nothing was affecting him. He felt playful, almost. His mind was not in the fight at all.

He wandered through the building, avoiding the men who were armed and conscious. When he reached the next level, he came upon Sho in the midst of a fight with a man with a sword. Content that Sho could handle it, Kei leaned heavily against a pillar and lit a cigarette. He stared forward, not really seeing anything. The sounds of Sho and the other man fighting went unnoticed by Kei until Sho fell over and scrambled over to him.

"What's wrong?" Sho asked, breathless. "Help me."

Kei turned and wordlessly placed his cigarette in Sho's mouth. Sho took a puff and sighed, trying to relax. He was about to take another when Kei spotted the man Sho had knocked out getting up and preparing to attack again.

"Here he comes," Kei warned casually, and Sho jerked back as the man took a swipe at him. Kei sighed. Sho had stolen the cigarette away from him.

There was a crash as Sho dodged ungracefully, falling over, and a window shattered instead of his head.

Kei lit a new cigarette, still leaning on the pillar with his back to Sho's struggling fight. Suddenly sensing another's presence, he glanced up and straightened as he saw a man aiming at him from three feet away. He slowly backed up, spitting out the cigarette but kept his hands in his pockets. It was strange how apathetic he felt this evening. It was as if he was not even there.

Suddenly he fell flat on his back, ignoring the sting of the cement underneath him. The man, thinking Kei had weakened, stepped over him and aimed at his head. As he began to shoot, Kei moved his head side to side faster than humanly possible, dodging each and every bullet. The man's eyes widened in shock, and he glanced at his gun before beginning to shoot faster. Kei continued to move his head out of the way, his eyes following the paths of the bullets as they left the gun.

The man grew frustrated, and he reached down to try to press the gun directly against Kei's head, but Kei shoved him up with both hands. The man went flying up toward the ceiling. Kei stood up and put another cigarette in his mouth. He leaned against a different pillar and tried to light the cigarette, but the lighter wouldn't work. Irritated, he dropped the lighter, sighed, and then spat out the cigarette. He walked away, and he heard a dull thud as the man fell to the ground.

Sho had disappeared.

A trickle of worry edged itself into his mind; Kei had the extra magazines of ammunition, and if Sho ran out, he would be relatively helpless against the gunfire. He moved toward a door from which he could hear more shooting, and almost instantly he found Sho again. He was shooting with both guns at once. Then, just as Kei had predicted, Sho ran out of bullets.

"Sho!" Kei shouted as Sho's eyes widened in horror.

Sho released the empty magazines, and Kei tossed two of the extra ones to him, using his superior strength to give them enough force to click in place and reload the gun. Sho spun around and fell to his knees, shooting.

"Whoo! Good job!" Kei called out in his thickly accented English, smiling in approval.

The shooting continued for quite some time, and Kei once again lost track of Sho as the teen ran out of the building to follow the man they had met earlier.

"Kei!"

He turned to see Toshi crouched behind a desk, and he walked over and crouched down next to him.

"Where's Sho?" Toshi asked, glancing around for any other gang members.

"He's gone," Kei replied, not really paying attention. He took Toshi's gun, reloaded it, and shot the last three men who were still in the room with them.

"Gone? Gone where?"

Kei stood up. "No idea. He went after some guy we met earlier…he was Taiwanese, had a white shirt; did you see him?"

Toshi nodded. "Yeah. We almost killed each other when he was hiding behind this desk too, but he thought I was just a pizza delivery boy who got caught up in this, so he left me alone."

Kei smiled slightly. "What, your phone ring again?"

Toshi laughed, and the two left the building together to find Sho.

To Be Continued….

* * *

A/N: I sort of…forgot about this story until this afternoon, during a conversation about MoonChild with a friend, sorry. This is one of my back-up chapters (aka written a while ago) to make up for the huge gap in updating.

Reviews are appreciated!


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